The Staff And Scrip Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABABBBCBCCDEDEEAFAFF GHGHHIBIBBJBJBBAKAKK LMLMNAFAFFAOAOOAPAPP QRQRRDSDSSTUTLUAVAVH AOAOOTBTBBWAWAAATATT AVAHHXBYBBAAAAAABABB AAAAAAVAVVACACCAZAZD AOAOOABABBABABBAAAAA A2OA2OOABABBALALUABA BBB2C2B2C2C2AOAOOAD2 AD2D2POPOOHRVRRATATT BABAAWho rules these lands the Pilgrim said | A |
Stranger Queen Blanchelys | B |
And who has thus harried them he said | A |
It was Duke Luke did this | B |
God's ban be his | B |
The Pilgrim said Where is your house | B |
I'll rest there with your will | C |
You've but to climb these blackened boughs | B |
And you'll see it over the hill | C |
For it burns still | C |
Which road to seek your Queen said he | D |
Nay nay but with some wound | E |
You'll fly back hither it may be | D |
And by your blood i' the ground | E |
My place be found | E |
Friend stay in peace God keep your head | A |
And mine where I will go | F |
For He is here and there he said | A |
He passed the hill side slow | F |
And stood below | F |
The Queen sat idle by her loom | G |
She heard the arras stir | H |
And looked up sadly through the room | G |
The sweetness sickened her | H |
Of musk and myrrh | H |
Her women standing two and two | I |
In silence combed the fleece | B |
The Pilgrim said Peace be with you | I |
Lady and bent his knees | B |
She answered Peace | B |
Her eyes were like the wave within | J |
Like water reed the poise | B |
Of her soft body dainty thin | J |
And like the water's noise | B |
Her plaintive voice | B |
For him the stream had never well'd | A |
In desert tracts malign | K |
So sweet nor had he ever felt | A |
So faint in the sunshine | K |
Of Palestine | K |
Right so he knew that he saw weep | L |
Each night through every dream | M |
The Queen's own face confused in sleep | L |
With visages supreme | M |
Not known to him | N |
Lady he said your lands lie burnt | A |
And waste to meet your foe | F |
All fear this I have seen and learnt | A |
Say that it shall be so | F |
And I will go | F |
She gazed at him Your cause is just | A |
For I have heard the same | O |
He said God's strength shall be my trust | A |
Fall it to good or grame | O |
'Tis in His name | O |
Sir you are thanked My cause is dead | A |
Why should you toil to break | P |
A grave and fall therein she said | A |
He did not pause but spake | P |
For my vow's sake | P |
Can such vows be Sir to God's ear | Q |
Not to God's will My vow | R |
Remains God heard me there as here | Q |
He said with reverent brow | R |
Both then and now | R |
They gazed together he and she | D |
The minute while he spoke | S |
And when he ceased she suddenly | D |
Looked round upon her folk | S |
As though she woke | S |
Fight Sir she said my prayers in pain | T |
Shall be your fellowship | U |
He whispered one among her train | T |
To morrow bid her keep | L |
This staff and scrip | U |
She sent him a sharp sword whose belt | A |
About his body there | V |
As sweet as her own arms he felt | A |
He kissed its blade all bare | V |
Instead of her | H |
She sent him a green banner wrought | A |
With one white lily stem | O |
To bind his lance with when he fought | A |
He writ upon the same | O |
And kissed her name | O |
She sent him a white shield whereon | T |
She bade that he should trace | B |
His will He blent fair hues that shone | T |
And in a golden space | B |
He kissed her face | B |
Born of the day that died that eve | W |
Now dying sank to rest | A |
As he in likewise taking leave | W |
Once with a heaving breast | A |
Looked to the west | A |
And there the sunset skies unseal'd | A |
Like lands he never knew | T |
Beyond to morrow's battle field | A |
Lay open out of view | T |
To ride into | T |
Next day till dark the women pray'd | A |
Nor any might know there | V |
How the fight went the Queen has bade | A |
That there do come to her | H |
No messenger | H |
The Queen is pale her maidens ail | X |
And to the organ tones | B |
They sing but faintly who sang well | Y |
The matin orisons | B |
The lauds and nones | B |
Lo Father is thine ear inclin'd | A |
And hath thine angel pass'd | A |
For these thy watchers now are blind | A |
With vigil and at last | A |
Dizzy with fast | A |
Weak now to them the voice o' the priest | A |
As any trance affords | B |
And when each anthem failed and ceas'd | A |
It seemed that the last chords | B |
Still sang the words | B |
Oh what is the light that shines so red | A |
'Tis long since the sun set | A |
Quoth the youngest to the eldest maid | A |
'Twas dim but now and yet | A |
The light is great | A |
Quoth the other 'Tis our sight is dazed | A |
That we see flame i' the air | V |
But the Queen held her brows and gazed | A |
And said It is the glare | V |
Of torches there | V |
Oh what are the sounds that rise and spread | A |
All day it was so still | C |
Quoth the youngest to the eldest maid | A |
Unto the furthest hill | C |
The air they fill | C |
Quoth the other 'Tis our sense is blurr'd | A |
With all the chants gone by | Z |
But the Queen held her breath and heard | A |
And said It is the cry | Z |
Of Victory | D |
The first of all the rout was sound | A |
The next were dust and flame | O |
And then the horses shook the ground | A |
And in the thick of them | O |
A still band came | O |
Oh what do ye bring out of the fight | A |
Thus hid beneath these boughs | B |
Thy conquering guest returns to night | A |
And yet shall not carouse | B |
Queen in thy house | B |
Uncover ye his face she said | A |
O changed in little space | B |
She cried O pale that was so red | A |
O God O God of grace | B |
Cover his face | B |
His sword was broken in his hand | A |
Where he had kissed the blade | A |
O soft steel that could not withstand | A |
O my hard heart unstayed | A |
That prayed and prayed | A |
His bloodied banner crossed his mouth | A2 |
Where he had kissed her name | O |
O east and west and north and south | A2 |
Fair flew my web for shame | O |
To guide Death's aim | O |
The tints were shredded from his shield | A |
Where he had kissed her face | B |
Oh of all gifts that I could yield | A |
Death only keeps its place | B |
My gift and grace | B |
Then stepped a damsel to her side | A |
And spoke and needs must weep | L |
For his sake lady if he died | A |
He prayed of thee to keep | L |
This staff and scrip | U |
That night they hung above her bed | A |
Till morning wet with tears | B |
Year after year above her head | A |
Her bed his token wears | B |
Five years ten years | B |
That night the passion of her grief | B2 |
Shook them as there they hung | C2 |
Each year the wind that shed the leaf | B2 |
Shook them and in its tongue | C2 |
A message flung | C2 |
And once she woke with a clear mind | A |
That letters writ to calm | O |
Her soul lay in the scrip to find | A |
Only a torpid balm | O |
And dust of palm | O |
They shook far off with palace sport | A |
When joust and dance were rife | D2 |
And the hunt shook them from the court | A |
For hers in peace or strife | D2 |
Was a Queen's life | D2 |
A Queen's death now as now they shake | P |
To gusts in chapel dim | O |
Hung where she sleeps not seen to wake | P |
Carved lovely white and slim | O |
With them by him | O |
Stand up to day still armed with her | H |
Good knight before His brow | R |
Who then as now was here and there | V |
Who had in mind thy vow | R |
Then even as now | R |
The lists are set in Heaven to day | A |
The bright pavilions shine | T |
Fair hangs thy shield and none gainsay | A |
The trumpets sound in sign | T |
That she is thine | T |
Not tithed with days' and years' decease | B |
He pays thy wage He owed | A |
But with imperishable peace | B |
Here in His own abode | A |
Thy jealous God | A |
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
(1)
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